Account of WH Meeting Shows Obama Discussed His Principles and McCain "Said a Whole Lot of Nothing"

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Inside the White House: What Went Wrong?
Sources in the Meeting Tell ABC News Why the Talk Turned Into a Screaming Match

By JONATHAN KARL

Sept. 26, 2008 —

The first sign of trouble: Twenty minutes before the White House meeting, Treasury Secretary Henry "Hank" Paulson calls House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to say there are problems with the agreement reached earlier in the afternoon. Pelosi is miffed. Democrats believed the issues Paulson raised had already been resolved.

President Bush opens the meeting at 4 p.m., quickly turning it over to Paulson who gives a status report on the markets and says, "We need to get this done quickly." Paulson turns it over to Pelosi, who defers to Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, who defers to Sen. Barack Obama. Obama starts things off for the Democrats by reiterating his principles on what the plan should include. Obama agrees with Paulson on the need to act quickly but says some on the Hill "don't understand the need for the rush." Some of the Republicans took this as an attack on them.

Obama then defers to Sen. John McCain, but McCain defers to House Republican Leader John Boehner to speak on behalf of the Republicans. Boehner says House Republicans have "a lot of problems" with the plan and "most of my caucus is not there."

At this point, the meeting is still fairly cordial. Pelosi even compliments the president on his speech Wednesday night. But the meeting starts to devolve.

After some more give and take, Sen. Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, presents a five-page list of 192 economists and business school professors who oppose the plan. Bush isn't impressed. "I don't care what somebody on some college campus says," Bush says. Instead, he says he trusts Hank Paulson, who, he says, has more than 35 years of experience and access to more information than those academics on Shelby's list.

Obama chimes in again, asking Paulson what he thinks about the insurance idea. Paulson says he thinks the idea is unworkable, and adds, "We can't start over."

After 43 minutes, McCain finally speaks. He says there are "legitimate concerns that need to be listened to" and that there has been "significant progress" in incorporating his principles into the bill. "We have one shot at getting this done right," he says. McCain does not get specific. "He said a whole lot of nothing," says one Republican in the room.


read more: http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5895827

[Laura PourMeADrink]

1. Great find, K&R, very interesting!

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2. right on

It's interesting how he turns the conversation over to Boehner. He was the first one McCain visited when he went to the Hill and was the one who put Roy Blunt in charge (McCain said the process was in Blunt's hands in his statement announcing he was back in the debate)

[fishwax]

3. I wonder if McCain plans to use this sequence of events to demonstrate his distance from bush

I've been thinking he might offer this in the debate (or the near future) as evidence that he won't be "bush 44" after all.

[bigtree]

4. hell, he asked for the meeting

'erratic'

[bigtree]

5. another account here

SEPTEMBER 27, 2008

An Inside View of a Stormy White House Summit
McCain's Return to Washington and Meetings With Fellow Republicans
Culminated in U.S. Leaders Yelling in Roosevelt Room

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122247077035980785.html?mod=